Climate Food and Agriculture
All Stories
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Impressions from Terra Madre in Turin, Italy
After days of feasts — intellectual, social, and culinary — my mind is too scrambled to put together a more structured column. Instead, here are some impressions and observations from Terra Madre while they are still fresh, written on a train ride between Turin and Florence. There is more to report; look for […]
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How I beat KFC’s ‘family meal’ challenge
Recently, the American public was issued a challenge by the folks at KFC (formerly “Kentucky Fried Chicken,” but “fried” just didn’t sound healthy). The fast-food joint argues in its latest commercial that you cannot “create a family meal for less than $10.” Their example is the “seven-piece meal deal,” which includes seven pieces […]
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Environmental NGOs present sustainable-sushi guides and delicious raw fish at a New York event
A lot of people I know seek out meat, eggs, and dairy from pasture-raised animals and vegetables grown without chemicals, but they do not question where their seafood comes from unless they’re worried about mercury. The concept of sustainable seafood is a revolutionary idea that I hope catches on the way dolphin-safe tuna fish has. […]
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On the glory of Terra Madre’s street-food section
Turin, Italy — The critique of "fast food" needs to be nuanced. Pre-fab burgers from corn-fed cows, cooked to the cardboard stage by deskilled, exploited workers and washed down with corn-syrupy Coke: surely a calamity on many fronts. But other modes of fast food are possible, even necessary. In most of the world’s cities — […]
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A food/climate manifesto presents new visions for responding to climate change
Turin, Italy — I’ve just come out of the most hopeful and interesting discussions of climate change I’ve ever witnessed. Anchored by Indian food-sovereignty activist Vandana Shiva, the panel discussion at Terra Madre unveiled a new “Manifesto on Climate Change and the Future of Food Security,” drawn up by the International Commission on the Future […]
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Day two from the foodie blowout in Turin, Italy
Turin, Italy — Yesterday I left off at the Presidia section of the Salone del Gusto, having met up with my friend the fermentation scholar and teacher Sandor Katz, and his friend the food scholar Jeffrey Roberts, author of The Atlas of American Artisinal Cheese. By that point, I was overwhelmed by the variety on […]
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The surprising benefits of seasonal eating
In Checkout Line, Lou Bendrick cooks up answers to reader questions about how to green their food choices and other diet-related quandaries. Lettuce know what food worries keep you up at night. Your food or mine? Lou, I am curious about any benefits of eating seasonally — the foods or products that are traditionally […]
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Day one at the foodie blowout in Italy
Turin, Italy — On the one hand, I’m exhausted and jetlagged after a day of meeting people, listening to speeches, walking the streets of Turin, and noshing on lots of cured meat, cheese, olives, and other pungent goodies. On the other hand, I’m sipping a glass of Barolo — a celebrated red wine named after […]
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How to make a meal from your market basket
Turning market treats into good eats. On a recent trip to the farmers market, I found a mountain of leafy greens of all different hues and textures. I couldn’t resist buying four varieties: rainbow chard, red Russian kale, an Asian green similar to spinach, and escarole. Cooler weather also means the arrival of […]
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Khosla’s letter to Science backfires
Vinod Khosla has a letter in the Oct. 17 issue of Science ($ub. req’d) critiquing the Searchinger et al study: “U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change.” Question: Why would the editors at Science publish a letter from someone who is not a biologist or a peer of the researchers […]
